![Jim DeMint](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/Jim_DeMint_headshot.jpg/225px-Jim_DeMint_headshot.jpg)
Dr. David Cull, a prominent vascular surgeon in Greenville, had invented a small valve system that, if it works, could spare 300,000 dialysis patients across the country enormous suffering and save U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars.
But Cull’s hometown senator, Jim DeMint, would not write a letter supporting the surgeon’s application for a federal grant under the landmark health care bill that President Barack Obama signed into law a year ago today.